Sunday Evening Worship Service
by Anthony McCool
March 20, 2022 · First Apostolic Church of Knoxville (Knoxville, TN)
Kind: sermon
Scripture: Psalms 141:2, Genesis 8:21, Psalms 43:4, Isaiah 53:2, Isaiah 66:8, Ephesians 5:2

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/anthony-mccool--sunday-evening-worship-service-179
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
Free to copy and share with attribution.

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thank you praise team and musicians what a tremendous sunday and sundays we've had over the past a little bit here just been mightily blessed from bishop raymond woodward last week and bishop mccool midweek and pastor whitley and pastor mccool and just it's always the highest honor to get to address this great congregation and i don't take it lightly and i love each and every one of you pastor mccool preached i guess the prequel to what i'm going to preach this evening talking about altar altars and sacrifices and if you weren't here this morning i encourage you or if you were here i encourage you the same to go listen or re-listen to that great word we heard this morning as we dive deeper into the word of god and the word of god has every answer for every question that we have every season every circumstance it's right there if we'll dig around a little bit if we'll search it out it is all in there and god is ready to meet us in this day uh we believe at this church that the experiences and the miracles that took place in here can happen today we believe the same god yesterday today and forevermore we anxiously await his return but at the same time we're focused on those around us just believing if we can if we can tell someone about the god that we serve that he can transform their life and you all do that so mightily with your testimonies if you have your bible with you this evening or if you want to just look up at the screen one verse of scripture and we'll bounce around a little bit throughout but one verse of scripture tonight in the book of psalms 141 verse 2 it states let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice i want to preach to you minister to you this evening again i say is a part two to our sermon sunday sermon series on the altar but my title this evening is we must have an altar we must have an altar if we could do as the word of god tells us that we just read if we could just lift our hands up across this place as an evening sacrifice to our lord mighty god we thank you lord with great gratitude we enter into your presence and into your word lord believing that there is just a light and an answer to any question to any situation that we brought lord we know that when we approach your throne of grace we do so with boldness but also with humility with a repentant heart with sacrifice knowing when we do so that you're just going to rain down provisions and healings and protection in our life this is our prayer this is our hope and this is what we have faith in this evening in jesus name we pray amen and amen we must have an altar we hear that term a lot right altar an altar but what is an altar at the close of a message or even during the singing or we bring the elders forward we ask you to please step forward to the altar come to the altar and pray and we most of us in our church setting or if you've been here very long you'll hear the term altar invitation or altar call where we invite you to come to the altar in our tradition we think of the altar as the front steps here of at the front of the auditorium where you see people kneel where you see people pray where you see people seek the lord you might see them leaping for joy you might see their hands lifted up you might see their eyes lifted up you you might see them laid out the floor you might see them kneeling you might see tears coming down their face and pastor mccool told you about all of those characteristics and those different experiences you might have had or you might see when you come and to the altar some in other faith traditions might refer to the altar as a wooden table upon on the sacrament of the lord's supper was prepared and one could only just do a quick uh google search for a lack of better terms and type in altar and you could come up with a lot of different responses and a lot of different imagery for what an altar looks like the hebrew word for altar is misspelled which means a place of slaughter or sacrifice and the one thing the altar that we preach about the one thing about the altar we encourage one to go to is that it is the place where you can have an encounter with god at both church and home we must establish altars in our lives where we encounter god children should be introduced to altars beginning at birth you saw it so visibly today with the dedication of a newborn which took place around the altar here at first apostolic church even when someone passes away we hesitate to even use the word funeral we call it homegoing service and we have their body up around the altar everything we do we promote we teach we preach we fellowship is centered around the altar the altar outside of the i guess four walls wouldn't be accurate there's a lot of walls in here outside of here though the side of a bed a kitchen chair a bench or the edge of a church platform pastor mccool told us even about a hay bale becoming one man's altar but wherever we meet god wherever we communicate with god it can and will become an altar the old testament altar had four corners at which to tie down the sacrifice that was brought to god and likewise in our modern day we should tie ourselves to the altar and as the apostle paul so eloquently stated tying the old and the new covenant together that i die out daily as sacrificial offerings must go up every day the altar holds a prominent place in the scriptures for the words altar or altars particularly in the king james version of the bible is mentioned 435 times beginning with noah he stepped out from the ark into a fresh new world and it was almost as if he and the world had been reborn by the grace of god and the mountain breezes smelled sweet after a year of breathing the heavy maldorous air inside the ark god had sustained him and his family throughout the earth's upheavals the onslaughts of giant waves and the unfamiliar sound of torrential rains there was much to be thankful for noah and his sons moved the living creatures out of the ark and turned to survey their new environment the task of establishing a thriving community seemed impossible but the small family group had already accomplished the impossible in building the ark and being obedient to what god had commanded them to do and by god's grace they would begin a new and fruitful life in this new environment noah determined that before he built a home for himself or shelter for the flocks and herds he would build an altar others such as enoch noah's great grandfather may have built altars but in scripture this is the first recorded instance that we see an altar built and the lord's reply to noah when he built an altar and offered the best sacrifice genesis 8 21 tells us and the lord smelled as sweet savor noah's burnt offering drew god's approval and covenant and the lord said in his heart i will not again curse the ground anymore for man's sake i because i found grace in this man because i found a man i can trust i will no longer do this to humanity in psalms 43 4 we read then i will go into the altar of god unto god my exceeding joy abraham took a remarkable step of faith when he left his home city of ur of the chalies and the call of god inspired him to leave his people his country and most importantly the idols of the polytheistic society but thereafter he worshipped the one true and living god and just as the grace and blessing of god flowed from enoch to noah a progressive revelation of god passed from abraham to his descendants and the faith of faithful abraham lived on and isaac walked with his father to a place of sacrifice on mount moriah abraham we read built an altar there and not only did jehovah jireh the lord will provide spare isaac's life but abraham's confidence and god challenged isaac's life as never before and the place where we meet with the lord is always a holy place and we can see his son isaac go and build an altar we can go on in later on in genesis to see his offspring jacob take a stone and build an altar jacob and uh who was saw he jacob who was on running for his life because he had deceived his family and his brother god met him in one of the darkest moments of his life and he met them he met him there and he built an altar these altars commemorated special times and places and you can see how important they were and how they were passed down from generation to generation to generation from enoch to noah to abraham to isaac to jacob and these altars commemorated special times and places that were significant not only to them but also to jehovah and god marks those sites where we consecrate our lives and make our vows to him and we can see this precedent and scripture how it was the blessing and the protection of a family we can see in scripture how god provided in a situation and an altar was built and we see in another situation when uh it was in the darkest of night and he had deceived his family and there was nowhere else to go and he thought his life was over but the god of his ancestors showed up right there at the very lowest points of his life and that's where the altar was built and we preach about the altar and we you know everything we do as i mentioned a little while ago is centered around the altar but we can be prone to forget that an altar is not just about is not just a place of covenant and blessing it is also a place of submission and death to our self-will a deep experience at the altar brings an end to our selfish desires we use that expression going to the altar to mean that a person may be seeking uh repentance from god and or at times maybe someone is compelled to draw closer in their relationship with the lord sometimes maybe the burden for others just gets you out of your seat and forces you to the altar such was the longing is moses pleaded on behalf of his people yet now if thou will forgive their sin that and if not block me i pray thee out of thy book please please lord we see this intercession taking place by moses at the altar in the place of his people and the apostle paul in the same manner with great sorrow of heart for israel lamented for i could wish that myself were accursed from christ from my brethren my kinsmen according to thy flesh and this type of intercession moves god and this type of intercession is costly and it's consuming and it's painful and it's prolonged and the holy ghost becomes vitally involved and likewise the spirit also helpeth our infirmities for we know what not what we should pray for as we ought but the spirit itself maketh intercession for our groanings which cannot be uttered the altar is a sacred place to us the altar must be a place that we are all comfortable going to the altar is also though not a place that we should ever enter into casually the altar is not just a place for repentance the altar is a place for every single person sinner and saint and you must and we must at every opportunity take advantage of making our way to the altar as a pastor i worry sometimes about people who never make their way to the altar and i ask you tonight why yes you can praise god at home you can make your prayer closet an altar you can make your kitchen chair an altar but if you don't at church maybe just a little bit of skepticism inside of me says you might not at home either oh but that's just that's just emotionalism you're just trying to provoke a response guilty well it's it's in my heart well tell your spouse never tell them that you love them neither never show them any praise or adoration and just every now and then just say hey remember when we got married we're good right let me know how that works out for you we must take every advantage and every opportunity to make use of the altar god has given us we live in a country where we have the freedom to worship and what would it say about us if we come into god's house and just go through the motions and go through the ritual and never take advantage and fail to acknowledge the liberty we have to come to his altar and give him praise and the adoration he deserves diedrich bonhoeffer the german pastor and theologian who was hanged at a concentration camp flozenberg 1945 for opposing hitler and nazi and him stated when christ bids us come and follow he bids us come and die genuine victory in a believer's life comes only when he or she places their self on an altar of sacrifice if we have repented of our sins and died with christ we have been baptized in his name buried with him we have died to the world as it says like the apostle paul we can say that i am crucified with christ jesus said to his disciples if any man will come after me let him deny himself take up his cross and follow me the altar must be the most important place of our life and at the close of every single service we would do well to take advantage of the opportunity that god has afforded us to come into his house to give him praise and to lift up his great name before the new covenant which foreshadowed jesus christ the tabernacle was the portable earthly dwelling place of yahweh the god of israel and it was used by the israelites from the exodus until the conquest of canaan and moses was instructed at mount sinai to construct and transport the tabernacle with the israelites on their journey through the wilderness and their subsequent conquest of the promised land after 440 years solomon's temple in jerusalem superseded it as the dwelling place of god when moses had completed the work on the tabernacle he set it up and offered incense on the golden altar and a burnt offering on the brazen altar it pleased god that everything was done according to his command and when the cloud of god's glory descended everyone knew he had come to dwell and the tabernacle for the derrick if he could put that picture up there for me in the tabernacle there were two altars you're right my left here you can see the ark of the covenant you can see the veil and you can see the altar of incense at the entrance of the gate here you can see the altar of burning offering in the tabernacle there were two altars two altars were used in the service of the tabernacle at the entrance here you can see the brazen altar or altar of burnt offering which stood inside the court at the gate the golden altar of the altar of incense which stood in the holy place immediately in front of the veil their functions were distinct yet they were intimately connected because the activities of the latter were based upon those of the former the incense altar owed its standing to the blood atonement and because it was an altar it was connected with a sacrifice which had already been offered no animal sacrifice was ever to be placed on it but the fire which had consumed the sacrifice on the brazen altar was the same fire which was brought to the golden altar to cause the sweet perfume of the incense to ascend to jehovah we see the entrance the altar of burnt offering and the sacrifice had to go on the altar of burnt offering and then the same fire for the altar of burnt offering was then taken inside the holy place to the altar of incense the brazen altar was an imposing piece of furniture and we can romanticize it now and we can go to museums and see and if you would play that video now we can see depictions of it and think to ourselves what it must have uh been like to see that take place in that day and in the times of jesus when a sacrifice was being altered but it would have not been attractive to a hebrew considering what it symbolized upon entering the gate of the tabernacle the worshiper saw this imposing brass altar which rose four and one half feet above the ground and it spanned seven feet across in its width and breath the altar was a huge hollow box made of acacia wood overlaid with brass its surface though was stained layers thick by blood of countless sacrifices smoke ascended continually ashes accumulated and were swept away there were there would be no need to explain the significance of something so commonplace for centuries lambs had died for the sins of the nation inside the walls of the temple two lambs would die every single day one in the morning and one in the evening and it shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the lord and when you entered in you could smell and you could hear and even around the outside you would know that something innocent that a lamb had been or was being sacrificed for your sin it's what brought the respect it is what brought the reverence it would it would get the attention of every sense you had you could see it you could smell it during passover you would have to taste it and every single day something innocent was being offered up for your wrongdoing it maintained the integrity and humility and also the vision of the people it was the reminder that something innocent must be the payment for my sin and when the lamb died a priest would sound the shafar a ram's horn and even people who didn't witness or realize what had taken place no matter what they were doing they would hear that sound and it must have stopped them right there in their tracks maybe they were plowing a field maybe they were playing with their kids but two times a day as sound would go out and it was a reminder that something innocent was dying because of their wickedness because of their sin it would had to be a sacrifice at that brazen altar marked by blood and no doubt his children would get older and they would begin to inquire why must islam die any hebrew child may have asked this kind of question perhaps they had seen that same lamb feeding from its mother enjoyed watching it among the other flock but the lamb was spotless the land was gentle the lamb was innocent and god used this imagery to try to get a grip on his creation that something innocent had to pay the price for our sin why must this lamb die because our sins the priest was to keep the consuming fire burning continually the largest piece of furniture in the tabernacle the brazen altar stood as a fearsome bloody symbol of judgment and death and we know this sacrificial altar is a picture of jesus christ the acacia wood was fine grain durable wood that grew in the sinai desert it portrayed the humanity of our lord isaiah told us he shall grow up before him as a tinder plant and as a root out of dry ground he hath no form nor comeliness and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire him christ's humanity did not transform people during his earthly ministry they were transformed by the power of the almighty that rested upon his life and the brass or the copper could withstand fire and it represented the judicial authority of christ and here at the sacrificial altar was the judgment of god against sin here a guilty sinner could find forgiveness through the substitutionary death of an innocent victim and our most earnest prayers our most sincere praises are in effective unless we have first visited the brazen altar of repentance and submission the second altar the altar of incense the golden altar before a priest could enter the holy place he first had to offer a sacrifice of blood at the brazen altar and then he must thoroughly wash his hands and his feet at the labor god required both actions before a priest could enter in to the light of the golden candlestick or eat from the table of showbread or offer incense at the golden altar together these three objects in the holy place the candlestick the table of show bread and the altar of incense speak beautifully of our lord and savior he's the light of the world and he's the bread of life and he is the way of approach to god through prayer and praise but while ministering at the altar of incense the priest first had to go enter in and give that sacrifice he then would have to cleanse himself and see his reflection of what had just taken place while ministering at the altar of incense the priest was closer to god's presence than any other location of the holy place and this altar stood directly in front of the veil which separated the holy place from the holy of holies and like the brazen altar the altar of incense was made of a case you would but it differed in that it was overlaid with gold gold in scripture speaks specifically of divinity while the wood speaks of humanity and we can see this played out as we read about streets of gold and jesus dying on a wooden cross but every day a levitical priest would take fire from the brazen altar and then he would place it on the golden altar using any other fire to burn incense would result in the death of the priests every single day that priest would have to go to the brazen altar and take an innocent lamb and no doubt when he got done there would be tears in his eyes the stench of death would be in his nostrils nostrils there would be blood covering his garment and every day he would go wash up and realize and recognize that something innocent just had to die for his sin but before i can go to that altar of incense before a sweet aroma can go up to heaven something had to die [Applause] two altars intimately connected but the latter depended on the former there would be no aroma going up to heaven god wouldn't hear the prayer and supplication of the people unless first a sacrifice took place [Music] our most earnest prayers our most sincere praises are ineffective unless we have visited the brazen altar of repentance and submission before we can come unto his throne and say god i need you to heal my land i need you to provide for my family i need you to help me with this i need you to help me with that before you enter into his presence you've got to first say lord cleanse me of my sin i am full of wickedness and unrighteousness and lord please realize that i approach your throne with humility and then after you acknowledge that you've been at the altar of sacrifice only then can you step in and offer up that sweet aroma when the lord manifests his power within a church service be assured that someone has paid a price it's not spontaneous it didn't just happen there might have been a mighty saint of god in a prayer closet somewhere there might have been a mighty saint of god at their house or in a perimeting before service saying lord please bring me revival bring us revival somebody might have been fasting that week before every move of god is dependent upon his people acknowledging the brazen altar someone has paid a price isaiah 66 8 tells us for as soon as zion travailed she brought forth her children healthy children are born to healthy mothers and if the atmosphere in a church is charged with the power of god if the singing is anointed if the preaching is strong then the newborns should be well the congregation will hunger for the milk of the word they will worship enthusiastically and they will observe regular members worshiping in spirit in truth they will pray in faith as they see others receive answers to their prayers that's why we encourage that's why we preach when we step into his presence we need to give god praise we have the opportunity to assemble together to lift up our hands and to lift up our voices and say god i love you god i thank you god i praise you and then he begins to move someone has to pay a price for revival and it can take one person one person getting out of their comfort zone one person determined to do more one person as we saw with moses saved the nation one person like esther saved her people god sees when somebody steps forward in intercession prayer some may have to go out on a limb in the eyes of the lukewarm they may have to go forego natural pleasures and push back their chairs from the table but their ears are attuned to a different voice they can hear that modern day so far that that as sacrifice has taken place and they are hungry to see new people at the altar they're not content to see children simply brought to birth and come forth but they're determined to pray people through the holy ghost the fire of god never falls upon altars that have no sacrifice there's no biblical record of jesus or the apostles giving what we term an altar call but something wonderful happens when spiritually hungry or spiritually people in need gather in the front of the church at the close of a sermon or in the midst of a song the preacher gives an invitation to come and pray and we should take every advantage of it so i asked us today where is our altar is it the utmost importance in our life do we realize the sacrifice that took place for us to have the opportunity that we do to offer up praises into heaven that we serve a god that hears every prayer that we pray sometimes it's not necessarily in a church or even a building but our altar is the place where we meet with god by faith the gospel calls us to come to jesus christ to flee to him for refuge and we can cast ourselves upon his mercy when we have sinned genuine worship at an altar was and is still a costly undertaking and the supreme sacrifice took place at calvary where christ gave his life for us ephesians 5 2 says and walk in love as christ has uh also loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to god for a sweet smelling savor what's that referring to a sacrifice went forth he was bruised and and beaten the perfect innocent sacrifice for our sins at the brazen altar if you will so we can approach his throne and be as close that veil was torn and when we lift up praises and when we lift up his name it's a sweet smelling savor to heaven again i repeat the fire of god never falls upon altars that has no sacrifice you can't go to the altar of incense until the brazen altar had a sacrifice the same coals from the brazen altar of sacrifice were transported inside right in front of the veil as close to god's presence as you could possibly get and the same coals from the altar of sacrifice were taken by the priest to the altar of incense the praise and the sweet smelling aroma couldn't go up until something had been sacrificed so i asked us on this sunday evening as we've heard this whole day about the altar as we also prepare ourselves and as we approach the time where we celebrate jesus raising from the grave are we satisfied are we comfortable are we content to just see the smoke and the ashes of past experiences or are our lives on fire for god right now does it have to be your song does it have to be you have to be in the right mood to come in here does everything have to be going good for you to have a move of god and i ask you what would have to take place in some of your lives for you to get to the altar what would it take if you can't worship god in here if you can't worship god with this singing if you can't worship god in this environment what's it going to take what will it take we can't afford one dead dry service oh you're just preaching emotionalism oh you're just trying to provoke me to a response you better believe i am there's a world depending on you a world depending on your sacrifice oh can you see it now there's people coming up to this altar this place yes it's an altar of repentance it's for the sinner and the saved oh if you think you're too righteous or you think you're too saved to make your way to the altar you've got a obstacle of pride in your life [Applause] what will it take for us to lift our hands oh you don't understand i'm an introvert he died for your sins he died for your sins oh you're just what you're just wanting me to clap while i preach no i want you to lift your hands to heaven and your voices to heaven to acknowledge that there was an innocent spotless lamb that died for your sins and i'm going to keep preaching it over and over and over and over he died for your sins [Music] oh there's a oh the altar of incense oh first there's got to be a sacrifice take place there's got to be a sacrifice take place i can't send that aroma up to heaven i got to repent of my sins i've got to repent of my sins go keep praying keep praying a sacrifice had to go out in the morning and in the evening it's no accident that when the philistine goliath [Applause] invoked fear on the israelites it says the philistine for 40 days the philistine came forward and took his stand it says he did it in the morning and he did it in the evening the reason they were fearful they couldn't hear the sound of the shofar because they were too busy listening to the enemy they were distracted instead of focusing on what they should have been doing and that was praying around the altar a sacrifice was going up but they were too busy listening to goliath we can't be distracted in this last day we have the goliath that is this world around us you might have the goliath that might be just being comfortable you might have a goliath in your life that's a great distraction when you come into his house it might be a goliath that's uh if it's physically ailing your body you might need healing or provision whatever that goliath is in your life but don't listen to the enemy don't listen to the enemy you need to know that i am morning in the evening i've got to acknowledge the sacrifice because when that sacrifice goes forth then i can take those coals into the altar of incense oh there's tears in my eyes there's blood-stained garments but i wash myself in that lever and i see that reflection and that high pr that priest would say yeah it's for the people and i know i'm a priest i know i'm set aside i know that i that i've got a a great heritage and a responsibility but that priest would look in the fountain and that laver as he was cleaning himself he would see himself and he would say that innocent lamb is just for me as well because i'm a sinner as well but there can't be an aroma going up to heaven until there is a sacrifice and i just believe in this last day that first apostolic church of knoxville is acknowledging and dedicated to making sure that there is still sacrifice on the altar my flesh is going to be pinned to this altar my whole life is going to be centered around the altar of the most high why don't we lift our hands for an evening sacrifice right now oh if you need the holy ghost he's moving in here [Music] what will it take what will it take when's the last time you received his spirit when's the last time when's the last time you came to the altar the altar is for everyone don't you turn a judgmental eye of somebody who comes up to the altar it's for everybody every time every sermon every service the altar is where we get our needs met the altars where we commune with god the altar is where god communicates with man [Music] god we're not satisfied with the smoke and the ashes of past experiences but our lives are on fire right now there's needs in this house there's needs of healing there's needs of provision there's there's questions that are being asked in prayer before we bring those to him though as one great big church body we're going to pray a prayer of repentance the apostle paul said i'd die daily we're going to go to that brazen altar and before we offer up our needs unto the lord so across this house let's lift our hands we know the enemy has come out and he's taunting us and he's mocking us and he's trying to distract us in this last day but lord we stand committed right now to know that there is power there is power at the altar mighty god you see each and every one of us where we are at lord you see the altars that are built because of blessings and for protection lord you see the altars that have been built when they're down to nothing but you commune to us lord we place our flesh on the altar committed and dedicated to be living sacrifices for you lord we want to live a life pleasing to you the way i communicate with my fellow saints and to those out in the world lord the way i behave lord the way i present myself lord the places i go the things i do i'm a walking living sacrifice lord please right now take all uncleanness out of my life i'm a wretched sinner god please forgive me lord if there's if i have any animosity or if i have a grudge against my brother or sister lord please forgive me right now if i've been to become too comfortable in your house lord please forgive me right now if i haven't given you the praise and adoration that you deserve lord please forgive me right now any evil in my life all of my flesh lord anything i've done please cleanse me right now in the name of jesus christ we know that forgiveness in your name lord it's your first step of the plan of salvation lord please i turn away from my wickedness right now oh in your name we pray in jesus name oh and now that we've placed that sacrifice oh you you've reflected now on the things that you've done or you've reflected on yourself but now is the time to enter into his presence and why don't you send up a sweet aroma of praise and ask god for healing right now ask god for provision right now ask god for fresh direction right now lord we thank you lifted up yes jesus [Music] jesus is [Music] lord we praise not to be seen but we want to give you the worship and the adoration [Music] sacrificed [Music] innocent had to die for our sins father we acknowledge that tonight [Music] [Music] remove it from me right [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Applause] you see everything jesus christ [Music] [Music] stand in the gap for your family stand in the gap for your city [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] from generation to generation to generations [Applause] [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] for me [Applause] is [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] jesus [Music] [Music] was born [Music] please understand my heart tonight [Music] when i say what would it take i'm preaching to me first and foremost right here is who i'm preaching to first and foremost my great-grandfather [Music] sister mccool's father he and his family were voted out of their denominal church for speaking with tongues and receiving the influence of the holy ghost and getting baptized in jesus name his family had the holy ghost but he did not yet have it but he went to preach preaching about it and after he would preach he would be the first one in the altar at his altar call as we call it so please understand my heart tonight when i when i try to tell you that we need to get to the altar i'm preaching to me first and foremost and i've got to adhere to the words that i preach and that's why that priest before he stepped in after that altar cause he he'd have to look in that fountain and he would see his reflection and that's what we all do tonight so please understand my heart but i just know how easy it is in this last day to become distracted and fail to acknowledge i'm speaking to me first the sacrifice that was paid for our sins but we're a church committed yes we have anointed singing and we have we believe in every means and method to reach this world but the most important thing is where it starts and it starts at the altar and we acknowledge that tonight lord we praise you and we thank you and we built and live our lives at the altar every praise singer every choir member every musician we've got to have an understanding that we just don't play and sing we've got to have our lives built around the altar don't get too comfortable tech team of being out in service worship where you're at you've got to have an altar every single person every teacher every worker we have to understand and have an altar we never get too saved to not come to the altar we have to make a determination to come to the altar every single time it's that important we're setting an atmosphere of praise we're setting an atmosphere of worship there's guests going to come to that door are they going to see me sitting here like this oh that's not my song i didn't get enough sleep last night heavens no we got to wake up we've got a whole world to win we've got a city we've got every resource available to us god has blessed us mightily there's been generations that's gone before us they had to rub nickels together to make sure the electric bill is on and now we're having to get more electric to illuminate everything we have we have to have an altar and if you're determined to have that why don't you give god a praise why don't you leap for joy where you're at why don't you give him a handclap of praise of thanks oh we're coming after you goliath we're not distracted by your words we're entering into the battlefield